Ricoh 9110 Operators???????

[Manafaith]

Just finished with a demo on a Ricoh 9110 and I was EXTREMELY IMPRESSED. Any users out there that can share quick pros and cons that you have found. Need to replace an old beat up KM C7000 soon and need opinions from experienced operators.
Already checked out the V2100 and it was nice but the Ricoh print quality on Uncoated stock was amazing

 

[dabob]

Can't speak for the 9110 but we bought a 7100 with the 5th color option last January . . . now I don't know what the differences are between the two but we compared the 7100 to the bottom level versant and agains a KM something . . . theres another thread here about it .. . . but the bottom line is we couldn't be happier with our7100, the vacuum feed, registration, and image quality is just plain wonderful . . . and it's built like a beast!

 

[gregbatch]

We have the 9100. Same machine just 110. It replaced our offset machine and is simply incredible. Paper handling is beyond any other machine out there. We run Classic Columns, Sundance Felt, and other highly textured stocks with no problem. The fuser belt AND image belt are flexible for getting into the texture. On gloss stock the toner film is so thin it looks like offset. Not waxy. V2100 just couldn't handle the papers. If there is a con it is that there are so many adjustments at your disposal (we're talking adjustments that would be limited to techs on another brand) that initial setup on some papers can take some time, but once you get it dialed-in you are set from that point on. Need more suction? No problem. Need more air? No problem. All trays are vacuum feed. Tray height? Adjustable. It's a bit like running offset, except it can remember everything. Ability to save many paper profiles for quick setup. Biggest advantage is ability to set X and Y magnification for each paper (front and back) to compensate for paper shrinkage. That means running business cards filling a 12x18 sheet and cutting right on the marks.

 

[Shawnd]

We are over a million clicks on our one 7110 and the other is not far behind, still going strong. I am sure the 9110 will just get you to that number faster

 

[Manafaith]

Thanks for all the input so far. My original plan was to go check out the 7110 but it struggled with a certain color that I print a butt load of so we jumped over to the 9110 and it didn't even bat an eye. I can honestly say I haven't seen anything even come close to it's print quality. The biggest problem I now face is that the 9110 is a BIG GIRL who eats up a ton of real estate. I do have to say however, that I am quite impressed by the Ricoh line-up

 

[namelessentity]

I never got a chance to actually demo a Ricoh, but we were given samples printed by a 3rd party that had the same booklet printed on all the top models (9110, Versant, Igen, Imagepress, 1000i) and I felt like the Ricoh blew them all away. We would probably have bought one, but we didn't want to take a chance on the service since no one near us had any of their equipment.

It really looked fantastic on textured media, and I thought it had the closest look to an Indigo or offset print.

 

[hojoclan]

I have had two years of pain and suffering on my 9110. It was one of the first batch of machines to come out and as such was still in Beta in everybody's mind except my managements. In that time quite a few parts have been upgraded as they don't last as long as they should, and there are still problems in that area it's had 7 (SEVEN) firmware updates and a couple of these have caused some serious issues. There are a couple of lengthy posts of mine about the early days somewhere on this site. Some of the problems have been sorted some have not and a few new ones have turned up.
I have to agree that the print quality is top notch and on that note several company's in the UK have replaced their Indigo's with 9110, the registration on 99% of stock is very good when you think it has no grippers and the colour consistancey is very good, I have jobs that I matched to Pantone Numbers 18 months ago and they are still spot on to the signed copy I still have.
But the problem remains that this machine is pushing toner based tech to its limit and it's on the edge of it's envelope all the time, and for that reason some of the techs I deal with are starting to get fed up with the machine,they say its like a formula one car always close to the edge of falling off the track, and when it does it can take a while to sort the mess out.